The original Griswold House used in National Lampoon’s Vacation was filmed in Chicago, where as, the other Griswold houses used in European, Christmas and Vegas were all filmed on the Warner Brother’s backlot. As a reference to the Griswold’s home state Chevy Chase wears a black Chicago Bears hat in all four Vacation films.

Shermer, Illinois is home to not only the Griswold’s but the Bueller’s (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), the Baker’s (Sixteen Candles) the gang from the Breakfast Club and many more! Shermer is said to be based on the hometown of John Hughes, Northbrook, Illinois which was originally named Shermerville. John Hughes’ high school, Glenbrook North High School and some surrounding High Schools were often used as the high schools in his films including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Shermer also borrows the real life Northbrook zip code 60062

An ongoing theme in Hughes depiction of Shermer is the contrast of its resident’s wealth. Films like The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Career Opportunities and Some Kind Of Wonderful all show rich and poor kids living and attending the same schools, something which Hughes has spoken about when talking about his own experiences growing up in Northbrook, Illinois.

With the death of John Hughes the days of Shermer are gone but are far from forgotten. With films like Dogma where two characters “Jay and Silent Bob” travel to Illinois looking for Shermer only to find that it is fictional town and shows like NBC’s Community making almost weekly references to the Hughes films and it’s Shermer residents it looks like the dream of Shermer lives on.